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Two men charged with plotting to blow up fuel tanks at New York’s JFK Airport have been found guilty, the BBC reports.

Prosecutors had said Russell Defreitas and Abdul Kadir planned to cause a huge explosion by igniting the fuel depot and underground pipelines in 2007.

Kadir, a former member of Guyana’s parliament, was charged with arranging financing for the plot. Defreitas was a former cargo handler at the airport.The defence argued that they had been led astray by a police informant.

“I think it was clear these guys couldn’t act on their own… and didn’t act on their own,” Defreitas’ attorney Mildred Whalen said.

“We’re deeply disappointed.”

In intercepted conversations, Kadir, an engineer by training, was heard explaining how to cause explosions that would provide enough oxygen to ignite the fuel tanks at the airport, prosecutors said.

At one point, he advised his alleged co-conspirators to use Google Earth software to plan the attack on the airport, which he code-named the “chicken farm”, according to court filings.